Kropotkin and the Russian =?UTF-8?Q?=C3=A9migr=C3=A9_?=press

[Ben Phillips]

Dear SEELANGers,

Working on Petr Kropotkin's lichnyi fond in Moscow's GARF recently, I came
across a draft of a letter written by Kropotkin to the editor of a journal
entitled *Nakanune* on the historical significance of Decembrism
(1129.1.566, Письмо редактору журнала "Накануне" об историческом значении
восстания декабристов). With the exception of the year (1900), the letter
is undated, and, it being a handwritten draft, the editor's name is
illegible, as is much of the rest of the document. Since my research deals
with images of Siberian exile in the pre-revolutionary emigration, the
letter is something I would very much like to read, and so I'm trying to
find a published version.

The problem is that I can find no trace of any journal of that name having
existed in 1900 in any of the Lenin Library catalogues nor in the online
RNB catalogue. My first thought is that, given its title and the Kropotkin
connection, this *Nakanune* is likely to have been an émigré publication
and thus may either a) be known to posterity under a different title, since
these publications did rename themselves quite frequently, or b) might
otherwise simply have been another piece of ephemera from the enormous
pre-revolutionary émigré press, a journal that ran to perhaps two or three
editions and then disappeared without ever having been catalogued. Neither
seems that likely to me: major library catalogues are normally very good at
noting publications' name changes, and would someone of Kropotkin's stature
really have had the time or inclination to write to such a minor journal?

If someone here could offer either an explanation, some insight, or some
clues on where I might go about searching for the journal otherwise, I'd be
very grateful.

Many thanks,

Ben Phillips
UCL SSEES
16 Taviton Street
London
United Kingdom
WC1H 0BW
020 7679 8700
b.phillips.12 at ucl.ac.uk

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                        http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/seelang/attachments/20140606/0b90d19d/attachment.html>